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PI OriginalJosh KalvenFriday May 16th, 2008, 4:08pm

Moore: City Council Enjoys "Less Democracy" Than Iraqi Parliament

On WIND's John & Cisco In The Morning yesterday, Ald. Joe Moore (49th Ward) called in to discuss Wednesday's City Council hearing, during which Mayor Daley steamrolled Moore's attempts to ensure that a hearing was held on an ordinance repealing the city's ban on foie ...

On WIND's John & Cisco In The Morningyesterday, Ald. Joe Moore (49th Ward) called in to discuss Wednesday's City Council hearing, during which Mayor Daley steamrolled Moore's attempts to ensure that a hearing was held on an ordinance repealing the city's ban on foie gras. As we noted, Moore subsequently put out a statement likening the mayor's behavior to the strongarm tactics of his father.

Let's just say Moore cranked it up a notch during his radio appearance:

JOHN HOWELL (co-host): The mayor's probably a bit frustrated about the Children's Museum and he wanted to send a signal out.

MOORE: I think that's entirely the case. And the signal was, you know, to the City Council: "It's my way or the highway." And I don't think that's healthy.

You know, we send our young men and women to fight for Democracy in Iraq. I think yesterday you saw less democracy in the Chicago City Council than you now see in the Iraqi parliament.

Moore also criticized Daley's questionable time management during City Council hearings, which disproprotionately favors honorary measures over actual debate:

MOORE: I'll tell you this: for the first two-and-a-half hours of the City Council meeting yesterday we spent our time on honorary resolutions.

HOWELL: Yeah, there you go.

MOORE: And far, far more time than was ever spent on any other measure in the City Council, including the foie gras issue -- this time and the time it was passed two years ago. So I find it a bit ironic that the mayor decries the waste of time that the City Council spent on an issue he disagrees with. And yet time and time again, we spend hours -- every City Council meeting -- honoring this person or that person. Now, I think some folks are deserving of the honor, but there are other ways of doing it that don't take up the people's business.